LMU 82- Hope 65
;D
A good tune up. The coaches did the right thing starting the veterans and making the new guys earn their spot on the floor.
Amazingly, Larry Davis put in plenty of minutes in the first half as the first sub - he played hard. I can just see him begging the coaches to put him in the game - "please coach, I'm ready!" - and I can understand his desire to get back in the game. Hiweverm early in the second half, he limped off the floor - terrible. Let's hope coming back too early doesn't kill his season and that he can recover quickly.
Some scoring notes from memory only - I don't have all the stats.
Viney - 18 or so points from a slow start. Got lots of rest in the second half.
DuBois - about 7 points most in the second half. I was surprised at how many minutes Jared played with a problem foot. He was a workhorse. ;D
Diederichs - a handful of points. Played with enthusiasm.
Young - 10 or so, mostly on dunks and reverse layups. Played an OK defensive game. Is a presence on the court.
Teel - 10 points, some late turnovers that caused the coaches to sit him down for a good spell in the second half. Lots of energy though on both ends of the court.
Sweezy - 2 points on a jumper, rebounded OK.
Armstead - 2 points late in the game. I sense Laron is having a crisis of confidence at this point - he played under the basket but is undersized and doesn't have the skills for guard. Needs to find a comfort zone on this squad. One mid range jumper was an air ball.
Highlights (from my colored lens perspective):
Garibay on defense and rebounding, had a few nice shots, did not like his three-pointer attempt from the corner (we need him underneath), missed some opportunities but he does not play "soft" like some earlier reports indicated. Go Edgar!
Given Kalipinde - 12 points, good playing time, finished well under the hoops, electrified the crowd with a no-look pass to Osborne late in the first half for a lay up. One key to the future of our program. Maybe pro potential.
Alex Osborne - 7 points mostly in second half, had a nice left-handed shot in traffic and drew a foul, showed the strength to finish with players hangingn on him under the hoop, early season nerves resulted in a few missed foul shots but this kid is for real, perhaps the most underrated (scouting points wise) in the 2009 recruiting class.
;D
Kelsey Cline (who?) - yes an unheralded walk on from Westchester via El Camino - 5 points including a three and decent court presence.
Right now we seem to have three centers - Diederichs, Garibay and Osborne - currently playing in that order. We need to find a way to work Osborne into the lineup in some way other than a "third" in the depth chart.
Not a very thorough report but that's it for now.
General observation - surprising how much better the new talent is than what we played with all last year. Seeing the new talent compared to the old, I now wonder how we won even three games. I guess 39 points from DuBois is one reason.
Go Lions - only 14 days to the next game at Gersten!